Reviews Lincoln's early years as a farmer and his significant impact on U.S. agriculture, including the establishment of the USDA and the beginnings of the National Agricultural Library. Also includes various full text documents and agricultural Acts from the 1860s.

Granville Sharp (10 November 1735 - 6 July 1813) was a British campaigner for the abolition of the slave trade, and classicist.

Field Marshal Manuel Deodoro da Fonseca, pron., (August 5, 1827 - August 23, 1892) overthrew Emperor Pedro II and became the first president of the Republic of Brazil. Born in Alagoas, in a town that today bears his name, Fonseca made a military career, putting down the Praieira revolt in Pernambuco, in 1848, which was Brazil's response to the European year of failed liberal revolutions. He also saw action during the War of the Triple Alliance (1864 - 1870), …

John Venn (born Hull,Yorkshire, August 4, 1834 - died Cambridge, April 4, 1923), was a British logician and philosopher, who is famous for conceiving the Venn diagrams, which are used in many fields, including set theory, probability, logic, statistics, and computer science. John Venn's mother, Martha Sykes, came from Swanland near Hull, Yorkshire and died while John was still quite young. His father was the Rev Henry Venn who, …

Samuel 'Sam' Sharpe, or Sharp, (1801, Jamaica - May 23, 1832, Jamaica) was also known as Daddy Sharpe, was the slave leader behind the Jamaican Baptist War slave rebellion.

Mum Bett, later known as Elizabeth Freeman, was born to New York slaves in Claverack, New York, circa 1742. At the age of six months she and her sister were sold to John Ashley of Sheffield, Massachusetts, who she served until 1780. During that time she married and had a child. Her husband was killed in combat during the Revolutionary War. In 1780, Mum Bett prevented her mistress from striking her sister Lizzy with a heated shovel and was struck instead.

Alphonse Marie Louise Prat de Lamartine (October 21, 1790 - February 28, 1869) was a French writer, poet and politician, born in Mâcon into French provincial nobility. He is famous for his partly autobiographical poem, "Le Lac" ("The Lake"), which describes in retrospect the fervent love shared by a couple from the point of view of the bereaved man. Lamartine was masterly in his use of French poetic forms.

Charles Buxton (18 November 1823 - 10 August 1871) was an English brewer, philanthropist, writer and Member of Parliament. Buxton was born in Cobham, Surrey, the third son of Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, a notable brewer, MP and social reformer, and followed in his father's footsteps, becoming a partner in the brewery of Truman, Hanbury, Buxton, & Co in Brick Lane, Spitalfields, London, and then an MP. He served as Liberal MP for Newport, Isle of Wight (1857-1859), …

Lieutenant-General Sir George Arthur, 1st Baronet, KCH, PC (21 June, 1784 - 19 September, 1854) was Lieutenant Governor of British Honduras (1814-1822), Van Diemen's Land (now the State of Tasmania, part of Australia) (1823-1837) and later Upper Canada (1838-1841). George Arthur was born in Plymouth, England. He was the youngest son of John Arthur and his wife, Catherine, daughter of Thomas Cornish.

Captain Luke Collingwood (died 1781) was captain of the slave ship the "Zong". He was a doctor aboard his previous slave ship and not experienced enough to captain one. He is famous for the voyage of the Zong during which, on November 29, 1781, he decided to throw ill slaves overboard. The owner attempted to file an insurance claim against lost cargo, eventually leading to the re-examination of policies towards slavery in Britain, …

Dolores Rodríguez de Astudillo y Ponce de León, more commonly known as Lola Rodríguez de Tió (September 14, 1848-November 10, 1924), born in San Germán, Puerto Rico was the first Puerto Rican born poetess to establish herself a reputation as a great poet throughout all of Latin-America. A believer in Women's Rights, she was also committed to the abolition of slavery and in the independence of Puerto Rico.

Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, 1st Baronet (7 April 1786 - 19 February 1845) was an English Member of Parliament, brewer, abolitionist and social reformer. Buxton was born at Castle Hedingham, Essex, England. His father was also named Thomas Fowell Buxton. His mother's maiden name was Anna Hanbury. She was a Quaker (member of the Religious Society of Friends). Through the influence of his mother, Buxton became a close friend of Joseph John Gurney and his sister, Elizabeth Fry, …

William Backhouse Astor, Jr. (July 12, 1830 - April 25, 1892) was a businessman and a member of the prominent Astor family. The younger son of William Backhouse Astor, Sr., he was joint heir to the Astor real estate empire, though he left its active management to his elder brother John Jacob Astor III (1822-1890). Astor graduated from Columbia College in 1849. In 1853 he married the socially ambitious Caroline Webster Schermerhorn, …

Lieutenant-General Sir George Thomas Napier KCB (30 June 1784 – 16 September, 1855), entered the army in 1800, and served with distinction under Sir John Moore and the Duke Wellington in the Peninsula--and lost his right arm at the storming of Badajoz. He became major-general in 1837, K.C.B. in 1838 and lieutenant-general in 1846. He was governor and Commander-In-Chief of the army in the Cape Colony from 1839 to 1843, …

William Frederick Havemeyer (February 12, 1804 - November 30, 1874) was a New York businessman and politician serving three times as the Mayor of New York from 1845-1846, 1848-1849 and from 1873 until his death in 1874. Born in New York, New York to German immigrants, Havemeyer received a liberal education attending Columbia College and Wykoff Village Academy, graduating from the former in 1823.

Frances Harriet Whipple Green McDougall (1805-1878) was an abolitionist, poet, novelist, editor, botanist, spiritualist medium, and advocate of women's, voters', and workers' rights. In contrast to many other 19th-century women writers, throughout most of her adult life she earned her living as an author; at the same time she often donated her writing for causes she believed in, such as the abolition of slavery.